Hallelujah
by anne-writes
Summary: Hermione, and Severus, falling in love in the summer. A few years after the Final Battle. Relatively DH compliant, except for Snape living and the HG/RW relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Based on _Hallelujah_, by Leonard Cohen (though I particularly love the Rufus Wainwright cover).

* * *

Hermione stood at the kitchen counter, slicing tomatoes for lunch. Her messy, sandy brown curls were pulled back but stray pieces had sprung out and framed her damp face. She brushed them back in a practiced motion, and looked up and out the window.

Outside there were men playing as if they were still boys, playing Quidditch. A slight, red-haired young woman joined them, and their raucous laughter floated in through the open window. The heat was almost stifling in the kitchen, despite the paper fans that had been charmed to flutter about the room. Her light blue sun dress clung to her damp skin.

Severus watched her, sitting at the kitchen table, pretending to read the Daily Prophet. His eyes always followed her, whenever they were in the same room. He was beyond captivated by her movements, the way her skin had changed from white in the winter to ruddy brown with the summer sun.

They were at the Burrow, though both lived at 12 Grimmauld Place. They were spending the summer there, so Hermione could help Ginny with her new baby and Mrs. Weasley with the chores. Severus was there because she was. He wasn't sure why he needed to be near her all the time, but he felt a primal instinct to keep watch over her. When she was gone he could get on with things, but there was distinct feeling of discomfort that he carried with him until she returned.

She walked towards him with two bowls of ice-cold chicken salad, as well as a bowl of tomatoes balanced precariously on her thin arm. She slid one bowl towards him, and settled herself on the bench across from him. She picked up a book that was laying on the table, and they read in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

There was something secret that hung there, in the hazy August air, and floated between them tenuously. She felt him watch her all the time, felt the way the air charged when he brushed against her in a doorway, or when he sat next to her at dinner. There had been months like this, spent dancing around one another and hardly speaking of anything other than research and books.

Severus wore a thin, long-sleeved black button-up shirt and black trousers. His lank hair fell past his cheekbones, and he frequently pushed it back from his face as he read. Hermione was barefoot, pink nail polish on her toes, a faint hint of mascara on her eyelashes.

The others stumbled in, laughing and pushing, and greeted the two sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hermione, love, will you watch the baby for a few hours so we can go to dinner?" Ginny asked, holding her husband's hand. Hermione nodded and stood, picking up both of their plates and depositing them in the sink as she headed for the nursery.

He watched her go, wishing he could go with her.


	3. Chapter 3

Severus was sitting on the porch, on a wicker couch, reading a thick textbook. He heard the screen door open, then close, and Hermione came to sit with him, holding Lily in her arms. She curled her legs beneath her as she sat next to him, holding the gurgling baby in her lap. The child reached for Severus' reading glasses that lay discarded on the seat between them, and Hermione quickly moved them out of her way. Their eyes met and held for several long moments.

She leaned back and looked out at the field, with the haze of trees in the distance, and the magenta sky clinging to the last bits of sunlight, as the sun slipped slowly below the horizon.

He wrapped his hand around Hermione's bare knee, and he read as she rocked the baby to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

She felt his fingers on her leg, felt the almost faint way they traced a small pattern on the inside of her knee. He read slowly, turning the pages with his left hand, and she watched him as she held Lily.

Her curls spilled around her face, and the muggy air held her there, captivated by him. She would never have thought this would happen, but she felt so strongly for him that it floored her, making her feel weightless and indescribably heavy at the same time. Like this, it was too easy to imagine them at a house of their own, with their own baby, just slipping into a life together. The thought made her inexplicably sad, and she pushed it from her mind, distracted as the baby wiggled in her arms.

Eventually, they heard the front door open, and loud voices filled the house once more. She stood, careful not to wake the baby. He looked up at her, and she smiled slightly, before heading inside to return Lily to her mother.

The screen door shut softly behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione was walking up the narrow staircase late at night, a week later, carrying an armful of freshly washed and folded towels for the bathroom. Her mind kept wandering these days, and so she kept herself busy with chores that drew her away from the common areas. There was something about being around Severus that was too much for her. Too much emotion.

Severus walked slowly down the stairs, nose buried in a book, unable to sleep and attempting to distract himself. Earlier in the week he had seen Hermione leaving the bathroom, wet from her shower, wrapped in a threadbare white towel. His eyes had raked over her, taking in the tiny flower tattoo on her foot and the way the water droplets ran over her collarbone. The moonlight from the small hall window was the only light in the darkened hallway, and it had struck her wet skin, making her seem like a ghost, or maybe something more ethereal. She had stopped, and they stared at each other for an achingly long minute. But just as he took a step toward her, to close the scant meter between them, she had turned, and walked quickly to her room. And now it was all he could think about.

He was too busy remembering the sight of her in that towel that he didn't pay attention as he rounded one of the sharp corners of the staircase. He ran straight into someone, dropping his book and knocking a pile of towels out of their hands. He cursed, and looked up just as she did. Hermione's brown eyes met his, and they both stood very still. His book was tumbling down the stairs, the soft thuds sounding like gunshots in the tangible silence between them.

Then he was stepping toward her, his hands finding their way to her jawbone and kicking aside the towels as he lifted her face up to meet his. Her hands grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him closer. His lips met hers, softly at first, and then harder, as he ran his tongue along her lips. She opened her mouth under his, and he took her mouth, loving the way her hands had tangled in his hair. He dropped his hands to her hips, pulling her closer as he simultaneously pressed her against the wall.

After several minutes, or maybe hours, he pulled back. Her hair had almost entirely escaped her braid, and his shirt was half-unbuttoned, hers rucked up so he could feel her skin. He pressed his forehead against hers, eyes shut, breathing hard.

He cleared his throat.

"Do you want—um, to…"

She nodded, before he even finished his sentence, and he half-smiled, grabbing her hand and pulling her up the stairs after him.

"Wait—the towels, and your book—" she said, stopping their ascent.

He shook his head, barely glancing back at her. "It doesn't matter," he said, tugging her along. He couldn't see it, but she smiled behind him, and pressed her free hand to her swollen lips as she tripped after him.


	6. Chapter 6

He opened the door to his room and pulled her in, locking it and casting a Silencing spell before turning back to her.

She stood in front of the large window, arms wrapped around herself, in a fluttery white top and denim cutoff shorts. Her hair was wild around her face, her feet bare and curling into the carpet. And for a moment, he couldn't breathe.

Hermione took a half-step toward him, her breath caught in her throat and dropping her arms to her sides. He came to and closed the distance between them, wrapping his large hands beneath her ears, along her jawbone, and tilting her face up. Her arms came up and ran along his ribs, before tightening on his hips and pulling him closer. He kissed her then, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer.

They made it to the bed, getting tangled in the blanket before Severus yanked it off the bed and threw it across the room. She giggled then, and some of the tension was gone, and he smiled back as he leant back over her.

And her fingers clutched the sheets as he touched her, lower and lower and then _there_. He pressed closer, and she ran her hands down his back.

He moved over her, and pressed himself into her, feeling her tightness, and she let out a soft moan that would have finished him if he hadn't been concentrating. He couldn't stop a low growl from leaving his throat, and couldn't stop his mouth from biting her neck, then her collarbone, marking her harshly, for his own. He straightened his arms, pushing himself away from her, so he could watch her. He thrust forward, studying her face, her mouth. He drove into her again, appreciating the way her breasts bounced with every thrust. Her hands scraped red lines down his sides, and he almost came undone when she whispered his name.

"Severus," she breathed.

He stopped, nervous, but she dug her short nails into his shoulders again.

"Yes?" he asked edgily, but she just opened her eyes and looked at him, a smile spreading across her face.

"Harder," she whispered, her voice ragged. He half-laughed, and ran a hand along her inner thigh, supporting himself with his other hand. Then suddenly, he hooked her knee over his elbow and slammed into her. She shrieked, and he almost stopped again, but her nails scraped his chest warningly.

And there wasn't much more hesitation after that.


	7. Chapter 7

Hermione was laying on her stomach, arms under her head, and the moonlight played over her sun-laden skin. Severus was beside her, one leg over her hips, propped on one elbow and looking down at her as his free hand traced random patterns on her back. She was watching him too, her head turned towards him, and she shivered from the delicious feeling of intimacy, so different from desire that usually thickened the air between them. Somehow this was better.

Noticing her shiver, he untangled himself from her, and stood to retrieve the quilt from where it had been thrown to the floor, but keeping one hand on her shoulder for as long as he could, as if he were afraid of what would happen if he didn't touch her.

She watched him, looking at his jutting shoulders and hipbones, noticing the shoulder muscles and the scars that wound over his back.

He turned back with the quilt, and noticed her watching him. The moment, the whole night, seemed too substantial, too emotional, for words, so instead of saying anything, he covered her with the blanket and crawled under with her, pulling her against him, wrapping a leg around hers, arms cradling her, noses almost touching as they looked at one another. She brushed a lock of his hair behind his ear, and tilted her chin up to meet his lips again.

He tried to pour all of himself into that kiss, tried to show her how much he needed her, wanted her, and she did the same. Finally, she drew back, and laid her head down on his arm. Her breath tickled his collarbone as she laid there, and he pressed his lips into her hair.

And they fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

When the sun was streaming in the window, and he could hear people bounding up and down the stairs and the youngest Weasley generation shrieking and shoving each other, they awoke. They had rearranged themselves multiple times as they slept, and now Severus was lying face down, head turned away from Hermione, as she laid with her head pillowed on his back, arm around his waist, and legs tangled with his. Her hair tickled his cheek, and he turned to face her in the bed.

Hermione sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees, and he sat up too. She laid her head on her knees, looking at him, and he reached and brushed her hair back from her face before leaning in and kissing her forehead. Her eyes slid shut, reveling in the moment, and he pulled away.

Severus' hand ran along her back, then down her leg, then back up her arm to her back. His eyes studied her body, and her eyes studied his face.

His eyes landed on her neck, and suddenly he grinned, the smile gracing his face with abandon. She raised her hand to feel her neck, and could feel where he had marked her.

"We should get up," she said, and he nodded.

"I love you," she added, without thinking, because the sunlight and his smile were making her giddy and she felt like running through wildflowers and dancing in the rain. He smiled again, though he didn't say how he felt, he pushed her back down and showed her.


	9. Chapter 9

Severus found her, later that evening, wandering through the woods on one of the many trails.

"It's getting late," he said, by way of greeting. She looked up and smiled, holding the flowers she had picked loosely in her hand.

"I lose track of time out here, sometimes," she responded as she looked up at the dark pink and orange sky.

He stood, still a ways away, and looked at her. Her grey summer dress, with its ruffles, buttoned up to her collarbone, but left her arms completely bare.

"I can't believe summer is almost over," she said. He nodded.

Hermione continued. "It makes me think, all this time has passed. It's been years since the war. Perhaps its time to leave Grimmauld Place."

He didn't say anything, but he was suddenly nervous. If she left, where would he go? Could he manage not seeing her every day?

She eyed him carefully, moving a few steps closer before stopping again.

Severus cleared his throat. "I… have a house, you know," he said hoarsely, worried that she wouldn't say yes, worried that she wouldn't want him any more.

Hemrione grinned, but changed the subject. "We didn't use any sort of contraceptive last night," she mused aloud, pressing a hand to her abdomen. "Did you forget to think of it?" she asked, raising her eyes to meet his.

He shook his head slowly. She smiled again.

"Should we live together?" she inquired laughingly.

He stepped closer. "Would you want that?" he half whispered.

She nodded, and he stepped closer and pulled her against his body, finding her lips. Her flowers fell to the ground, forgotten, as she wound her arms up around his shoulders. They kissed for a long time, before he pulled back slightly.

"I love you," he said quietly, seriously. She nodded.

"I know."

_The End._


End file.
